radio ads

The Republican Governor's Association went after Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire's most recent radio ad today, which features Sen. Barack Obama calling for the type of change in government Gregoire has produced in her first term.

The RGA begs to differ. In addition to mocking Barack Obama for vacationing in his home state of Hawaii and speaking to European audiences, they question his judgment in supporting Gregoire by hitting the governor on the topics state Republicans have been using to make their case against her, namely her negotiations with state tribes, a lack of results on certain road projects and the projected budget deficit.

The Gregoire camp responded later the same day, using the attack to tie Dino Rossi to President George W. Bush, citing that Bush has raised $10 million for the RGA. 

Mark Mays5th Congressional District Democratic nominee Mark Mays went on the air today with his first set of radio advertisements of the campaign. The two ads will run for a week on Spokane radio stations KQNT, KEYF, KJRB, KIXZ, and KISC, and the campaign hopes to expand the buy later in August. Both ads look to introduce Mays to voters and target the voting record and campaign statements of incumbent Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Colville).

"While we think that Cathy is a good and decent person, we believe that her votes in Congress are detrimental to the voters and the residents of the 5th Congressional District in Washington State," Mays said in a press release announcing the advertisements.  "The policies of the Bush Economy are eliminating what was the middle class in America, and the divide between the haves and the have nots has grown even larger during her watch.  Cathy has voted with President Bush 96% of the time."

Rep. Rick LarsenRep. Rick Larsen (D-Arlington), the four-term incumbent from Northwest Washington's 2nd Congressional District, began airing his first campaign ads on the radio Monday on stations throughout the district. The spot highlights Larsen's work in expanding health care access for veterans, notably the opening of clinics in Mt. Vernon and Sedro Woolley.

Larsen is being challenged by former Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart (R-Arlington), who has yet to advertise and whose campaign was in debt as of the latest filing period at the end of June.

Read the full transcript of the radio ad below the jump.

Gov. Chris Gregoire: Getty Images photoGov. Chris Gregoire's campaign has created a new radio advertisement, her first of the 2008 cycle. The ad firmly rebuts the Rossi campaign and ChangePAC's assertion that Gregoire is weak on crime, and instead blames the budget Rossi oversaw as a state senator in 2003 for cutting money from criminal supervision programs.

See the full text of the ad, which uses an older-sounding male narrator and will be running statewide, after the jump.